Certain words have always spoken to me
and resonated with me -
even before I knew what they meant
and what their definition was…
certain words have always seemed
to have this power to them
that has always intrigued me…
certain words have always had
this sound and this pattern in their pronunciation
that has always made me feel
like they are some sort of key to a door
that leads to somewhere within myself…
certain words have always reminded me
of certain things and certain people -
and in a way they have allowed me
to communicate with different versions of myself
in different versions of reality.
Words surround us everywhere we go…
even while walking through a jungle in Peru,
or while anywhere in the world
where you are within an oasis of nature,
those who are trained to notice
and to interpret the colours
and the language that is ever present
would be able to tell you so much
about what you should touch
and what you should steer clear of…
the imagery of our dreams also
has a dictionary and a lexicon
that can be decoded if you
actually remember what it was you saw
and what you did while you were asleep -
because our dreams can sometimes
disappear as if a gust of wind has blown them away
or as if they have melted away like
sunlight against snow…
nature itself has an underground network
which it uses to keep in touch
with the many varied forms of life that it embodies…
humans, animals, not to mention insects,
interpret what they see, or don’t see,
around them in very different ways -
and sometimes things are not exactly
as they appear to be upon closer inspection.
The more words that I have read,
the more words that I have heard,
the more words that I have learned,
the more words that I have used,
the more words that I have been
introduced to from the many varied languages
that are used everyday all around the world,
I have gained an appreciation for how
people are able to communicate with others
in multiple ways and for multiple reasons -
because the written word is one thing,
but the spoken word is another…
there has been poetry written,
there has been songs sung,
there has been music performed,
there has been art created by artists
that has a hidden and yet noticeable
underlying meaning that can only be
truly explained and understood
when they are uttered and performed
in the form that they originated…
translations and reinterpretations
have been common for generations -
however some words were never meant
to be repeated as commonly as others
and there is so much negativity attached to them
that saying them is considered a curse…
I don’t think there could ever be a limit
to how, when, where, nor why someone
will always wanted to express themselves
and leave their lyrical and literary mark -
which is good for someone like me
who lives to engage in a word search.
This poem can be found within the pages of my new poetry collection, “The Storyteller” - out now on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/fmYQv3F
Author: Mark Hastings
The Storyteller: Silent/Listen
“Silent/Listen” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: The Stuff of Dreams
“The Stuff of Dreams” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Train of Thought
“Train of Thought” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Divergence
“Divergence” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Warrior
“Warrior” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Light and Dark
“Light and Dark” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Once Upon a Time
“Once Upon a Time” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller’ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller – Out Now!
My new book ‘The Storyteller’ is out now and available to buy from Amazon!
The Storyteller is my ninth poetry collection, and it contains over 60 previously unpublished poems about life, love, loss, inspiration, imagination, exploration, discovery, storytelling, as well as reflections and musings from the experiences that I have had over the last year, which speak to who I am and who I always want to be.
You can get your copy of ‘The Storyteller’ in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon now!
My Poem “Once Upon a Time”
It is said that every story ever told
has a beginning, a middle, and an end -
which is true, from a certain point;
however, every story of everything
and everyone is connected…
no matter when, where, or why a story is told,
and no matter how a story is told,
what a story is about, and the reason it is
a story in the first place,
is always retained within it -
because at the heart of every story
there is always a reason that binds the many
elements and fragments of a story together
that all then fit together perfectly
like the pieces of a puzzle
or the strands of connectivity
that maintain a net.
All stories have certain things in common with one another…
all stories are different, and yet similar…
all stories are true, and all stories are false -
because perception of reality is key,
and sometimes multiple people
can have varying opinions on what happened,
as well as when and why something happened,
even though they might have all been witness
to the same thing happening…
all stories change and take on a life of their own
the more that they are heard and retold -
and sometimes a seemingly insignificant
aspect of a story that captures the essence
of the tale being told can grow to have more prominence
and can become what people remember
in greater detail more than most,
because of the manner and the demeanour
of the storyteller doing the retelling.
Stories are how life communicates
aspects of itself with future generations -
just as the DNA of humanity has being doing
even before we as species emerged
from the ocean of possibilities
and we were driven to become
what we have evolved into…
there are so many recurring motifs
that repeat throughout many of the chapters
of history that seem to demonstrate
a cycle and a rhythm of some sort of
underlying pattern and system -
which is why several stories
sound familiar when they are shared,
reconstructed, and sometimes given
a new name that is more contemporary
and easier to understand from a modern standpoint…
stories can be a source of inspiration, insight,
and a key to unlocking and understanding
why something, why someone,
or why somewhere is that way that they are -
because everything, everyone,
everywhere, never stays the same -
except for those things, people, and places
that exist in the middle of nowhere
and are only discovered by those not knowing
what, not whom, they are going to find…
things sometimes get lost,
people sometimes get forgotten about,
places something get abandoned;
however, then there are those things,
those people, those places,
that refuse to be taken for granted
and always find a way to be remembered,
to be recorded, to be given a special place
in the story of history and are allowed
to continue to exist in some form,
even though they might only be responsible
for something that they never have imagined,
nor ever expected, to be given the status
of becoming a story -
because what happened, when,
where, why, and how, only happened
once upon a time.
markthepoet.me 